If you own an oceanfront vacation rental, congrats! Your property is likely in high demand. However, as with any endeavor, there's always room for improvement. Having a property located directly on the water or within a waterfront complex is a big selling point. Don't make the mistake of underselling your location when marketing your home. Here are a few tips for increasing inquiries and bookings at your beachfront vacation rental.

Write Listings That Capture Both Travelers and the Search Engines

Highlight your location in your headline by using a phrase like “Beachfront,” “Oceanfront” or “Gulf-front.” Catch travelers who scan headlines looking for specific keywords by including the words they're looking for. Plus, the search engines, too, scan the words in your headline when deciding which pages to show in the results.

Vary your use and spelling of beachfront-type words to catch more travelers through the search engines. You never know which exact phrase a traveler will use to find a beachfront property. That's why it's a good idea to vary how you describe your location within your ad to capture both travelers who type in “beachfront,” “beach front,” or other combinations with similar ideas. For example, you might write “Oceanfront Beach Rental w/ Wifi, Walk to Little Skippy's” in your headline, “2 bedroom/2 bathroom beachfront condominium rental” in your description, and “Ocean front condo rental with amazing Gulf of Mexico views” in your photo captions.

List any nearby beaches or swimming areas. Many travelers search for beach rentals near certain beaches. To show up in the search engines, be sure to name all nearby beaches and designate how far they are from your home when writing your vacation rental listings.

Create a comprehensive list of all of the activities potential guests can do while staying in your home. This can include both water-related activities like swimming and jet-skiing, but also can address non-water-related activities like antiquing or horseback riding. When possible, be specific. For example, you could list area restaurants by name: “Enjoy a fine meal at nearby restaurants Little Skippy's, The Captain, Friedman and Porter, or Merlin's House of Magic.”

Provide clear distance expectations. How many footsteps is your beachfront condo to the beach itself? How many feet? If an attraction is within driving distance, how far is it in both miles and minutes?

Use Your Photos to Sell the Vacation Experience

Display a view photo that proves that it's from your actual home. Travelers want to know what they'll see when they sit on your balcony or look out the master bedroom window. If you have a spectacular view, that is likely one of your property's best features. Don't do yourself a disservice by either not including a view photo or featuring a generic view photo that isn't obviously taken from your home.

Make sure that you showcase the photos that travelers want to see. Most travelers, at minimum, want to see pictures of your home's exterior, view, living area, dining area, and each bedroom, in addition to any of your show-stopping amenities like a pool, hot tub, or HDTV.

Highlight your outdoor living space. Guests often spend a significant time outdoors in beach destinations and want to know what your balcony, yard, deck, or shared outdoor living space is like. If you have a great outdoor living area, feature this space prominently in your photos. If your outdoor space isn't so great, consider what you can do to improve the area and, consequently, your property's marketability.

Decorate your home in bright, cheery colors. Your color palette and décor can help sell the fun, beach atmosphere of your vacation destination. Your beach house or condo is a great place to try out those bold colors you're too scared to use at your primary home. Plus, bright colors tend to photograph better than whites or neutrals and will make your rooms pop off of the screen.

Offer the Amenities That Travelers Are Looking For

Add fun, warm-weather amenities like a margarita machine or ice cream maker. You never know what'll make a traveler choose your beachfront rental over the next. It might just be your soft-serve ice cream maker or your extra supply of flip-flops.

Offer “beachy” convenience items* like coolers, portable chairs, sand toys, boogie boards, and noodles. Potential guests will definitely appreciate any item that you provide because that means it's one less thing they have to lug along or buy when they get there.

Start a library from the books you have laying around your primary home. Save your guests a trip to the bookstore by providing a small library of paperbacks. You'll be surprised how quickly your collection grows as more and more of your guests leave their airport bookstore finds behind at your home.

Properly equipping and marketing your beachfront vacation rental is likely a constantly evolving process. Luckily, you have a great product to start with and all it takes its a few tweaks here to increase your home's rentability.

*Check with your attorney and/or insurance provider before adding any major amenities.

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